East Lansing, Mich. - -
Michigan State started its east-coast trip with a win over Rutgers and Boston University on Friday evening in New Brunswick. The Spartans won all three races by comfortable margins, but more importantly improved in the tangible ways that head coach Matt Weise was hoping to see from his crews

"I thought we raced well today, and I saw a lot out of our crews that I was hoping to see," said Weise. "I wanted to see us able to work out of our problems as a group, as a unit. That is something we were lacking two weeks ago at Oak Ridge. When we got a little out of sorts, we were able to get back into a good rhythm. I thought we were aggressive from the start.

We also had a staggered start, so we felt like we had a lead right away," continued Weise. "But, once it all evened out, we pulled ahead. Sometimes, it's easier to execute with a lead. What we will want to see tomorrow if we can still make the same moves, and execute as a group, in what promises to be a very challenging race against two top-ten teams."

With no fours racing at Rutgers, MSU's two fours combined to make an eight that raced in the second varsity race. MSU took the top two spots in that race (the combined fours entry took second, just 11 seconds behind the 2V), and Rutgers edged the Terrriers by about two seats for third place.

The Spartans also claimed significant margins in recording first-place finishes in the varsity eight and novice eight competitions. MSU was a full 14 seconds - about three lengths of open water - ahead of BU, which was about a length ahead of the Scarlet Knights at the finish. In the novice boat, MSU was nearly 30 seconds ahead of Rutgers, which edged the Terriers by a couple of seats for second.